Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by Seeds Investor LLC

Seeds Investor LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,232 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,258 shares during the quarter. Seeds Investor LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $250,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $471,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. now owns 44,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,904,000 after buying an additional 3,872 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,774,398 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $552,748,000 after acquiring an additional 901,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 73,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,186,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $171.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).